West Ham's Slaven Bilic Bailed out by Brute-Force Andy Carroll vs. Arsenal

UPTON PARK, London — West Ham United and Arsenal played to an entertaining, exhilarating and exciting 3-3 draw on Saturday afternoon, with Andy Carroll’s brutish hat-trick paving the way for an epic Hammers comeback after initially falling two behind—and also sparing West Ham manager Slaven Bilic’s tactical blushes.

The Gunners’ slick passing football proved too hot to handle early on, with Alex Iwobi pulling the strings and providing two assists—one for Mesut Ozil, and one for Alexis Sanchez. Carroll’s 10-minute triple salvo, though, turned the scoreline on its head, and Arsenal could only claw their way back to a draw via an opportunistic Laurent Koscielny finish.

Slaven Bilic constructed a 3-4-3 formation for the game similar, in parts, to the system he used to nullify Tottenham Hotspur in March. In that game, he stuck Aaron Cresswell and Michail Antonio in one-on-one marking roles with Danny Rose and Kyle Walker, attempting to stymie their aggressive nature and ensure they couldn’t make the difference in the final third.

Hector Bellerin is just as aggressive (from a positional perspective) as Walker or Rose, and Nacho Monreal is a fantastic out-ball in possession, so the decision to try to replicate—on paper—made sense. Remove Arsenal’s width, then rely on the hard-working Cheikhou Kouyate and Mark Noble to patrol the middle.

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Only, in practice, it didn’t work; West Ham were torn to shreds in the channels between the outside centre-backs and wing-backs. Arsenal played a slew of through balls into that area for 43 minutes, working the space and creating confusion in the hosts’ tracking and marking responsibilities.

One-touch, quick-passing football can spell death to any defensive system no matter how sophisticated it is or deep it sits, but the Gunners didn’t have to emulate Spain of 2008 to scythe through Bilic’s men here. Antonio and James Tomkins looked perplexed by Danny Welbeck and Iwobi’s movement, while Cresswell and Angelo Ogbonna failed to pass off responsibility of Bellerin on several occasions, leading to chances.

While West Ham did have an opening goal by Lanzini ruled out incorrectly, there’s no doubt that Arsenal played the hosts off the park in the first half. They worked those channels again and again—be it on the counter-attack or while in possession—and carved out a number of clear-cut chances.

But Bilic was bailed out.

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In the closing stages of the first half, Andy Carroll popped up with two goals to draw his side level. The goals were not a product of a system, nor any intricate formation-based play—they were exactly the types of goal you would expect Carroll to score. His first was a bruising header from a looping Aaron Cresswell cross, his second a well-executed, acrobatic strike following a melee in the box from a corner.

Minutes after the restart, he bagged his third, heading an Antonio cross in at the far post. In the space of just 10 on-pitch minutes, West Ham had gone from 2-0 down to 3-2 ahead, all thanks to their towering target man.

By substituting James Tomkins (the third centre-back) for auxiliary right-winger Emmanuel Emenike at half-time, Bilic all but admitted his first-half shape had failed. The change saw the Hammers transition from 3-4-3 to 4-4-1-1, which eventually merged into more of a 4-3-3 with Lanzini playing something close to a No. 8.

Arsenal were nowhere near as threatening in the second half—though they did enjoy spells of pressure here and there—with Ogbonna in particular looking far more comfortable in a back four. Antonio (who was now at right-back) and Cresswell’s roles were simplified, and the Gunners’ best moves emanated on the counter through the centre, rather than from wide areas.

The draw helps neither team. “It’s a blow,” Bilic admitted after the game, while Wenger expertly sidestepped questions over where this leaves Arsenal, replying rather dryly: “In third place with 59 points.” But while Bilic went on to suggest his team "deserved to be third [in the league]," the truth is he was fortunate to bag a point from this one.

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*Quotes obtained firsthand